Zelaya return a bust?

posted at 11:36 am on September 23, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

The return of Manuel Zelaya to Honduras has not gone according to the leftists’ plans, according to a report by the AP this morning. Instead of attracting throngs of supporters to carry him back to power, the deposed president has instead seen his small amount of supporters drift away from the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya has been hiding since his surreptitious return to Tegulcigapa. Even the Brazilians now seem less than enthusiastic about his presence:

Diplomats and activists streamed out of the increasingly isolated Brazilian Embassy in Honduras where ousted President Manuel Zelaya holed up with a shrinking core of supporters and relatives, prompting Brazil to urge the U.N. Security Council to guarantee the compound’s safety.

Zelaya’s backers ventured out at several points in Honduras’ capital to skirmish with police, after hundreds of their colleagues were routed by baton-wielding soldiers from the street in front of the embassy and police roadblocks sealed off the mission building Tuesday. Authorities denied local media reports that three people died in the confrontation. …

The government briefly set up loudspeakers near the embassy and shut off water and power to the building, apparently to harass Zelaya’s supporters inside. At least 85 Zelaya supporters and part of the embassy’s staff later left the building; none were detained. Services were later restored to the building.

Wow! Zelaya got a whole eighty-five supporters to come to the Brazilian embassy, huh? Impressive! That’s about the size of the average college-football team, although it appears that most of those do a better job of rushing and tackling.

It’s not for lack of trying. The UN apparently tried catering the event, sending a truck out for food. Thanks to the crisis created entirely by Zelaya and a global community anxious to reinstall a leader removed for violating his country’s constitution, the only food they could find was hot dogs, which the UN dutifully delivered.

So now we find out the answer to the age-old question: what if you threw a revolution and no one came? The answer is that the world will cater it for you, but for the most part, they will refuse to acknowledge that your revolution is remarkably unpopular.

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Wow! Zelaya got a whole eighty-five supporters to come to the Brazilian embassy, huh? Impressive! That’s about the size of the average college-football team Obamacare astroturfed support rally that pays you $12.50 an hour and faces off with a million hacked off conservatives, although it appears that most of those do a better job of rushing and tackling.

Ed – two quotes from the article you’ve quoted with some emphasis added.

Zelaya’s backers ventured out at several points in Honduras’ capital to skirmish with police, after hundreds of their colleagues were routed by baton-wielding soldiers from the street in front of the embassy and police roadblocks sealed off the mission building Tuesday.

to harass Zelaya’s supporters inside. At least 85 Zelaya supporters and part of the embassy’s staff later left the building

In other words, there were hundreds of Zelaya supporters outside and at least 85 inside the embassy.

Hmmm, what does this mean for The One’s policy on the situation. Will he finally support the people of Honduras? Or even better question – How does it see Honduras as he tries to trample the U.S. Constitution?

This is exactly what we wanted. U.S. did not interfere with Honduras, we let the people speak. This shows that our policy of sitting by, and allowing people to make their own decisions, is better then us using a military to force a resolution. The old strong arm tactics of the past president has been shown not to be effective. When allowed to flourish, people will seek freedom. I am proud of how we supported the Honduras people, and not just a few who took power in a suspect way. Let this be a lesson to the world, we support the freedom of choice by the people.

I feel a little guilty for laughing at that. I find it odd that Obama has no problem with interfering in Honduras, but felt there was no reason for him to step in when Iranian young people were being slaughtered in the streets. Obama is an epic fail.

Amazing how the people will support a government that actually follows and defends their Constitution. Zelaya has no REAL support in Honduras precisely because he tried to circumvent their Constitution and got bounced out of office as prescribed in their Constitution. See what happens when the government actually follows their Constitution, widespread support.

I heard from a very reliable source that obie did not order the SEALS to shoot the pirates but the Captain of the USS Bainbridge ordered the action. obie wanted more diplomacy but took the credit afterward when it went so well.

***
Democracy seems alive and well in Honduras. The statement by their president was clear, concise, and stated that their Constitution would be followed to the letter of the law.
***
What a concept! Rule of constitutional law. No presidents for life. A free election selecting the next president.
***
Could we get our President Obama (PBUH) and his congressional minions to respect and follow our Constitution also?
***
John Bibb
***

I heard from a very reliable source that obie did not order the SEALS to shoot the pirates but the Captain of the USS Bainbridge ordered the action. obie wanted more diplomacy but took the credit afterward when it went so well.

rjoco1 on September 23, 2009 at 11:53 AM

and we all know where the blame would be placed if an errant round would’ve happened to perforate CAPT Phillips….and it ain’t at the feet of the One.

I heard from a very reliable source that obie did not order the SEALS to shoot the pirates but the Captain of the USS Bainbridge ordered the action. obie wanted more diplomacy but took the credit afterward when it went so well.

rjoco1 on September 23, 2009 at 11:53 AM

I’m not a fan of unamed sources, but I ‘feel’ this as well. He didn’t want to be in a position to be blamed if the ship’s captain were to die as a result of the snipers.

Here is a challenge, try naming five good decisions Obama has made. Here’s one:

1) Letting seals shoot the pirates.
2)
3)
4)
5)

WashJeff on September 23, 2009 at 11:45 AM

I wouldn’t credit him with #1. I’d guess Obama gave the military a vaguely-worded rule of engagement because he didn’t know any better, and the commander on site interpreted it to take a chance with the snipers.

Obama got credit, but I bet if the commander had called back to the Pentagon for the ok, he would have been stonewalled or told by the White House to hold on for further negotiations with the pirates.

The commander apparently was not required to call before taking action, and didn’t. Or he was able to argue there was no time to call but had to act to save American lives.

I have seen in my lifetime, people that are oppressed throwing rocks at tanks and fighting armies and laying down and dying for their liberty. Are Americans strong enough to fight like that? I would love to think that we would fight to preserve our freedom too, instead of letting everything go.

Micheletti’s government has the support of the judiciary, the military, the Catholic Church, and probably the majority of the country.

Zelaya, just the labor unions and his political supporters. How he expected a popular uprising in his favor, I don’t know, but dictators can be stupidly vain. Or he had plans to bring in outside “supporters” that didn’t work when the borders and airport were closed.

1) Letting seals shoot the pirates.
2)Authorizing the Little Bird hunt/kill mission in Somalia
3)Calling Kanye a jackass
4)One speech to the African American community about personal responsibility
5)Drones into Pakistan

Exhaustive list to be sure but its only been 9 months or so. And note that #s 1,2 and 5 could be argued to his leftward base were inherited from Bush in case he needs to cover for those actions.

Laughably inept and hopefully demoralized, Zelaya hasn’t even offered a recent opinion piece in any of the lefty “noos” organs that I have seen. Inability to bolster one’s case for public consumption is a characteristic that dictators share.

Hopefully, Zelaya can share with us before November 29, when he is really out of office no matter what his lefty supporters think, just what his justification is for violating the Honduran constitution.

I will not be holding my breath since his only attempt at defense thus far has been “Viva la revoluçion!” Typical whack-job lefty authoritarian, he is.

It seems apparent that Obama has decided to realign the United States with far left dictatorships for the first time in our history. It is unprecedented and evil and deserves to be laid bare.

Dwilkers on September 23, 2009 at 12:03 PM

I am glad that my grandfather, who was awarded medals for his bravery and a Purple Heart in WWII, is not alive to see the path we are taking. My grandfather lived the rest of his life with the injuries that he sustained in defense of this country and to protect the world from true evil. I am disgusted by Obama and by those who will stand by and support his cowardly behavior.

For the first time in my life, I’m hoping and praying that our mighty nation is defeated and shamed in front of the entire world by a tiny foreign country. It is truly a David vs. Goliath contest and we sure aren’t David.

Our Chicago Thug President will not give up easily on this, and Zelaya and Chavez know that and probably have received assurances of continued US support. However, once Zelaya becomes an official frien of the US he will be subject to Obama’s program of dumping on friends.

I hope Honduras takes heart that a little David can bring Goliath to the bargaining table. Or at least get Goliath to blink.

Obama was insisting that Israel had to stop all settlement building, including in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu said no, he would still build within the boundaries of existing settlements, and as Jerusalem was Israel’s undivided capital, they could build anywhere they wanted. Abbas and the Arabs chimed in on the Obama line.

After yesterday, the talks will resume. Netanyahu will have a partial freeze for 6-9 months. He just ok’d building over 2000 new apartments in the settlements, and they will go on as planned. Obama, Abbas and the Arabs appear to have caved in.

I wonder how close the Honduran constitution resembles the U.S. Constitution. Maybe we should copy theirs. They seem to be able to interpret theirs. I wonder if their courts see it as a living document.

How did you dorks manage to derail a thread on Hondoras into one on programming code?

BadgerHawk on September 23, 2009 at 12:33 PM

Sorry. Guilty as charged. But you know, if Obama studied computer programming for a least a year in college (not that we know if he did or did not), he might be able to develop policies that have an hint of logic.

In other words, there were hundreds of Zelaya supporters outside and at least 85 inside the embassy.

ProfessorMiao on September 23, 2009 at 11:44 AM
That makes it thousands, if the media estimates for the March on Washington on 12 September are used as a scale.

unclesmrgol on September 23, 2009 at 12:44 PM

I was just trying to point out to Ed that he was misrepresenting the article he quoted. I don’t know whether the crowd outside was hundreds or thousands, but it was definitely more than 85.

I don’t know whether the collapse of Zelaya’s support will have any impact on Obama’s position. He’s said that the US won’t recognize the outcome of their elections in November, no matter what observers are present to guarantee their legitimacy. He’s put Honduras in a box; the only hope is that Obama looks so foolish in the end that he has no choice but to back down. But he’s not exactly known for admitting that he’s wrong.

Nothing a regiment of US Marines couldn’t solve, courtesy of Big Brother Ogabe.
Bishop on September 23, 2009 at 11:43 AM

Obama doesn’t have the balls. He has to treat the US military with kid gloves until he can de-fund them into oblivion. If he tried to order the Marines to overthrow a peaceful neighbor’s constitutional government today, Obama’s OWN revolution would be over before it began.

On the other hand, the State Department will gleefully do everything in its power to help Obama enstate Zelay as Dictator For Life.

Didn’t the Honduran supreme court tell him to leave or be arrested? So is he going to remain indefinitely in a spidee hole in the Brazilian embassy or face jail time? Keep up the pressure, people of Honduras. While our leaders are socialists, the American people are not. We are with you.